JAPAN/CHINA: Japan's finance minister told his Chinese counterpart
Sunday that a more freely traded yuan will benefit China's economy, in a
sign that Tokyo doesn't consider the currency's recent sharper climb
good enough, the Nikkei reported. the Chinese currency, in the three
months through February, gained an annualized 16% against the U.S.
dollar, much faster than a 6.9% rise in the entire 2007. Friday the yuan
stood around CNY7.06 per dollar. But comments from Japanese Finance
Minister Fukushiro Nukaga indicate Japan, which is one of the Group of
Seven leading industrialized countries, still sees the need for faster
yuan appreciation to help address trade disputes or cool China's
accelerating inflation.
Don